


Almyran Pine Needle

by RoseisaRoseisaRose



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Post Game, but it's mostly about having nosy roommates, it's still netteflix, technically there is no appearance by felix fraldarius in this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:40:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27625544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseisaRoseisaRose/pseuds/RoseisaRoseisaRose
Summary: Annette's tea-drinking habits have changed. Mercedes has questions.Written for the Felannie discord drabble challenge; this week's prompt was "Tea Time."
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic/Felix Hugo Fraldarius
Comments: 24
Kudos: 83
Collections: Those Who Drabble in the Dark





	Almyran Pine Needle

Mercedes was firmly an early-to-bed, early-to-rise type of person. She also deeply supported sleeping in, or napping when the occasion called for it. In general, she felt the people around her, from the king and his advisors to the bishops in her monastery, could all benefit from more rest and mindfulness, and she tried to model that in her own life.

But the letters were piling up, as letters did, and Mercedes realized that at a certain point it would be rude to not respond. So that evening, she made herself a cup of tea, settled herself at the kitchen table with her letters spread out in front of her, and prepared to stay up an hour past her normal bedtime.

She was through a letter to Ferdinand and starting on a letter to Lorenz when she heard the hall door click open. Mercedes looked up, surprised but not alarmed – dangerous thieves generally didn’t have keys, or let out squeaks of surprise when they crashed into flower vases left on entry-hall tables.

She’d figured Annette had already gone to bed. Speaking of people who could benefit from more rest.

Annette clacked into the kitchen, humming to herself while looking eagerly into a shopping bag, and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Mercedes sitting at the table.

“Mercie!” she exclaimed, nearly dropping her bag in surprise. “I thought you’d be in bed by now!”

Mercedes smiled. “I could say the same for you!” she returned. “Has the esteemed School of Sorcery suddenly started offering night classes to its students?”

“Noooo, I just stayed late to finish up some marking,” Annette said, sliding into the kitchen table across from Mercedes. Mercedes pushed her correspondence to the side. She and Annette had shared a modest flat in Fhirdiad since the war had ended, but they were both so busy that she felt sometimes as if she saw her even less than when they were in the army together. She missed being able to just sit and chat.

“Poor thing. They owe you a raise,” Mercedes said sympathetically. She reached towards Annette’s bag, the one she took to the markets with her on her days off. “Did you stop by the shops on your way home?” she asked eagerly. “Get something fun?”

Annette snatched the bag back before Mercedes could peek inside. “N-no, nothing exciting!” she said. “I just picked up some tea over my lunch break, that’s all.”

Mercedes frowned. Tea was a very boring thing to buy, and Annette was acting very suspicious. “Did I forget to tell you?” she asked. “I picked up some apple blend at the market last week. Anna – or maybe it was her sister? – actually had a good price on it, so we won’t be running out anytime soon.”

“Oh no, you told me!” Annette said with too bright of a smile. “I just . . . thought it might be nice to have some variety!”

Mercedes picked up her own cup of tea and took a slow sip. She’d known Annette for almost a decade now, and she’d taken her tea the exact same way – no milk, 3 sugar cubes, apple blend preferred – for as long as she’d known her.

“That’s exciting,” Mercedes said, trying not to sound too suspicious. “What kind did you get?”

“Oh, you know!” Annette said, reaching out and grabbing the bag, pulling it protectively to her chest. “Some four spice blend. Some Almyran pine needle. Fun stuff like that. I’ll put it with the rest of the tea, shall I?”

She was out of her chair and reaching for the step-ladder they kept in the corner of the kitchen before Mercedes could reply. Mercedes took another sip of tea, this time to hide her amusement. Pieces were beginning to fall into place.

“You’re developing expensive tastes, Annie!” Mercedes said, trying not to laugh. Apple blend was cheap and easy to purchase in bulk, and she suspected that was why it had sustained Annette through countless all-nighters since she was a student. Even now, they shopped for deals, they looked for discounts. A clergywoman and a schoolteacher couldn’t afford to live lavishly, no matter how heroic they had been in the war or how many courtship offers Mercedes put off replying to.

“Am I?” Annette asked, her head halfway in the top cupboard shelf as she pushed her newly purchased tea to the back. “I just thought. . . it might be fun . . .to branch out!” She gave a final shove to keep the tea in place and slammed the cupboard door shut, then lightly jumped off the stepstool and gave Mercedes a brilliant smile. “Well, Mercie dear, I’m really beat!” she said, stretching her arms over her head dramatically. “I’ll let you get back to – what is it you were doing?”

“Letting people down gently,” Mercedes said, picking up her quill with a sigh. She waited until Annette was almost out the door before asking, “Annie?”

Annette turned around, halfway through a yawn. That was genuine, at least. “Yes?” she asked, covering her mouth with one hand.

“Did you say Felix was arriving in Fhirdiad this weekend, or next? We should have him over for dinner, don’t you think?”

Annette’s hand did not, and could not, cover how hard she blushed and how quickly.

“Felix? Um, Duke Fraldarius?” she sputtered. “I’m not sure – I haven’t been keeping _track_ or anything – why don’t you ask Dimitri! He knows everything!” she finally exclaimed, as if Mercedes had had a chance to speak with the king at all within the last few months, let alone to ask for mundane information. “I have no idea! Maybe he’s not coming at all!”

“That doesn’t seem likely, I don’t think,” Mercedes said with another smile. “Sweet dreams, Annie. I hope you can sleep in a bit tomorrow.”

After Annette disappeared up the stairs and to her room, Mercedes frowned at the letter in front of her for a moment, and then swapped it for a letter to Ashe. He’d written to her more recently and would be less impatient to receive a response, regardless, but she had much more interesting news to tell him, so she decided the other letters could wait.

**Author's Note:**

> To be continued, maybe?
> 
> This is dedicated to all my roommates / best friends who have the uncanny ability for asking questions about all the things I wanted to keep secret.
> 
> [Find me on twitter](https://twitter.com/Rose3Writes)


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